Mieszala sparks Lake Park to win 2-1 over Oak Park

With each two-strike pitch she fouled away, Lake Park's Kelly Mieszala chipped away at Leah Bry's invincibility.

That rubbed off on the other Lancers.

"It shows that the pitcher is vulnerable," Lancers teammate Samantha Becker said, "that she can be hit."

Mieszala's leadoff single in the fourth inning sparked a 2-run rally, leading the Lancers past Oark Park 2-1 on Saturday in Roselle.

Lake Park (1-1) trailed 1-0 in the fourth, Bry (4-1) striking out 6 batters over the first three innings. Mieszala quickly got into an 0-2 hole but fouled off 10 pitches before taking a changeup the other way for a single.

"She's got great hands," Lake Park coach Tom Mazzie said, "probably the best hands on the team. That's why I have her in the No. 2 hole. I really think she can make things happen."

An out later Mieszala was forced at second on a bunt attempt by Vicki Tomaka, but Tomaka stole second and scored on Jamie Pomahac's two-strike bloop single to short right field. Pomahac went to second on the throw home, and scored on another two-strike single by Becker to put Lake Park ahead.

"Hitting's definitely contagious," Becker said. "Jamie had the pop that fell for a single and it got us all going."

Oak Park (7-1) loaded the bases with none out in the next half-inning, but Lake Park starting pitcher Angie Bates (1-1) struck out the next batter and induced a pop up and ground out to escape trouble.

"She could have easily packed it in," Mazzie said. "She had a rough outing against Lockport (a 12-2 loss on Thursday). I tell her to make teams put the ball in play and let your fielders work for you, and that's what she did today. She got out of some tough jams."

"It was tough," Bates said, "but I knew my team had my back the whole time."

Oak Park stranded 11 runners, 5 of them in scoring position, and had 2 runners thrown out on the bases.

"Waiting for a big hit, somebody needed to be a hero," Oak Park coach Mel Kolbusz said, "and today we had no heroes."

Needless to say, beating a team always among the best in the Chicago area was huge for Lake Park after the Lockport loss on Thursday.

"We came out the first game a little bit flat, a little bit nervous, a little bit tight," Mazzie said. "It was good to see the girls sit back, relax and have fun and get back to what we were doing last year."